THE CHRISTIAN NATURALIST. 121 



treat. The architectural skill which is there displayed 

 in the construction of the hive, is well known to all 

 who have investigated the process. The six sided 

 cells erected to contain the honey, are exactly what a 

 human architect would build if he were required to 

 erect a building that should contain the largest quantity 

 of room in the smallest possible space, and with the 

 smallest quantity of materials. The most accurate ma- 

 thematical calculations have proved this to be a fact. 

 And have shewn that the Bee is so good a calculator as 

 to expend no needless portion of wax upon her habita- 

 tion. For that this is the most precious part of her pro- 

 ductions, being secreted in the scales of the abdomen 

 from the honey swallowed, and this only from the 

 bodies of a portion of the hive, has been shewn by 

 Huber,* the celebrated Bee Naturalist, who devoted a 

 large portion of his life to this curious investigation. 



* For most of the information we possess on the Natural 

 History of Bees we are indebted to Huber, a native of Geneva, 

 who died in 1831. It is a singular fact that for 40 years during 

 which he prosecuted this study he was blind, and pursued his 

 researches only by the eyes of his wife. Among other various 

 inventions by which he carried on his experiments, was a hive 

 which he called his leaf-hive, from its opening and shutting like 

 the leaves of a book. 



